From: Ramsfield, Tod <tod.ramsfield@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca<mailto:tod.ramsfield@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca>> Sent: Thursday, May 4, 2023 1:05 AM Dear All, Division 5 and Division 7 have come together to develop technical session T2.6 for the upcoming IUFRO World Congress. The title of the session is "Ensuring healthy trees for high quality wood products" and the objective of the session is to encourage collaboration between specialists in wood science and forest health. Session description: The production of high quality forest products is directly reliant upon desired raw material quality, i.e. disease-free, clear wood harvested from healthy trees. When stems are infected by forest pathogens, end products can be compromised by inferior wood, or the production cycle suffers unacceptably high levels of waste creation. Infection of non-merchantable parts of the tree, such as foliage, result in decreased overall productivity, leading to increased rotation length and an extended period between planting and harvest. For these reasons, forest pathologists in Division 7 and wood scientists in Division 5 have come together in this session to discuss how to optimize wood production for the future forest products. Topics that will be discussed include canker pathogens of commercial species and the assessment of defect, non-destructive testing to detect heart rot within commercially important trees, the effects of foliar pathogens on growth and how to mitigate losses, assessment of degrade, industrial processes to optimize production from inferior wood, and the planting of resilient forests that can withstand the anticipated effects of climate change and stress. We have suggested a diverse group of speakers from both divisions that are able to examine this issue from different perspectives but are united in their desire to optimize forest productivity. If this session is relevant to your work, we hope that you will consider submitting an abstract. Best regards, Tod Ramsfield, Pekka Saranpaa, and Isabel Munck, session organizers.